Margaret Whitesell's Christmas Decision
by GalaxieGurl
Summary: Brennan's quirky Franklin-quoting second cousin Margaret receives an unexpected holiday greeting which leads to a surprise visit to the nation's capital and her anthropologist second cousin's family.
1. Chapter 1

Margaret Whitesell's Christmas Decision

_A/N: My writing time this holiday season is curtailed by preparations for an upcoming family wedding, but I love participating in the Christmas writing challenge, and wouldn't miss this year's story writing for anything. There are several prompts from which to choose, and I will cover as many of them as I can over the next month or so. Happy Holidays to readers and writers alike!_

Margaret inserted and turned the tiny key, extracted the day's letters from her box and relocked its metal door. Walking down the hall, she flipped through the stack of correspondence, bills, and grocery ads. She noticed her personal property tax bill among the envelopes and an oddly-shaped card from an address she didn't recognize at first. Mulling its origin, she unlocked her front door, stepped into her apartment and draped her coat over a dining chair. After brewing herself a cup of Earl Grey tea, Margaret returned to the diminutive front room and settled herself among the pillows in her grandmother's rocker. Noticing the 'D.C.' postmark, she smiled, surmising the card was from Temperance or her husband Seeley Booth.

Margaret sighed. This would be the first Christmas since Uncle Max had died; a hard one for Tempe even if she didn't admit it. Heck, _she _really missed the wily older man, who wasn't even her father. Having no idea what Tempe's handwriting looked like, Margaret wondered who had addressed the bright green square envelope whose odd shape required extra postage. There were shiny foil stick-on stars scattered across its surface, but she could tell the artist had been careful not to obliterate the address, for several had been peeled off, leaving an adhesive residue behind. _This looks more like a child did it than an adult, _she mused.

After a long satisfying drink of her tea, Margaret tore open the envelope. Inside was a Crayon-decorated sheet of red construction paper crookedly-folded into fourths to form a greeting card. Its front proclaimed "Merry Christmas" in unevenly-formed yellow-marker capital letters. Inside the wobbly laborious message continued "Happy New Yaer." Several more stick-on stars, an excess of silver glitter, and green pipe cleaners further adorned the page. A family of four stick figures marched across its lower edge, followed by what looked to be a dog or cat.

_Ah, Tempe's little girl must be about kindergarten age by now…._

Margaret had seen her second cousin and Booth once since the Benjamin Franklin Christmas visit, as she called it in her head. Taking to heart Brennan's comment that she really preferred to hear an original opinion to the elder statesman's pronouncements, she had stopped constantly quoting her favorite colonial patriot. Bones urges her second cousin to stop quoting a founding father.

"I'd rather hear what you have to say than Benjamin Franklin," Tempe had said.

Her frank remark touched Margaret deeply. Growing up with 2 very opinionated professor parents, her personal opinion had never really mattered at home. She had deeply regretted having been in Canada on a business trip when Max's funeral occurred several months earlier. Their family hadn't been extensive to begin with, and his passing reduced not only its size, but also its flair. Max was always one of Margaret's favorite relatives; charming, witty, clever, and entertaining. Her mother missed him as well, admitting how fond she was of Ruth's husband, in spite of how their unsavory bank robbing activities isolated her beloved middle sister from the family over the last two decades.

A folded white sheet of paper fell out of the childish card. Booth wrote that Tempe was coping with the loss of her father as best she could, better than Russ, and they hoped to spend Christmas together. He mentioned that Margaret would be welcome to join the small family, if her preference and schedule permitted it.

Margaret hopped to her feet, a grin spreading across her face. _It's time to be a little more spontaneous_, she decided. Grabbing her cell phone, she fired off a text to Booth agreeing to his idea and thanking them for the artfully innocent card. She had established a memorial scholarship in the Keenan's honor at CCAC, the Community College of Allegheny County where Ruth had earned a two-year accounting associate degree before marrying Max. Brennan's cousin was sure this would please their daughter and son. She hadn't had an opportunity to share her idea with them, but donations by relatives had already funded two $500 scholarships this semester.

She pulled her laptop from under the side table, checked flights from Erie to D.C., and impulsively bought an open-ended US Airways ticket leaving December 22nd. Then she booked a Comfort Suites reservation for three nights. If things went extremely well with the Booth family, she could always cancel her motel room. Hugging herself with excitement, Margaret decided her surprise for Tempe and Russ might just make this the best Christmas she'd had in a very long time!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Margaret's Holiday Visit

Receiving Margaret's text so quickly caught Booth a bit off-guard, as he'd expected her to mull her answer for a week or more as Brennan would have, and more likely than not, politely declined his invitation to come for Christmas. _Whadda'ya know, an impulsive Keenan family member! Who'da thunk it? _he muttered to himself. Though not too different from Max, who had surprised them a few times in the past.

He knew he'd better let his wife know quickly so she could prepare herself for the arrival of her quirky second cousin. He shooed her into the family room after dinner to quiz Christine on her simple spelling words and build a block tower with Hank, while he loaded the dishwasher and wiped down the counters and bar, straightened the stools and de-crumbed Hank's high chair.

Having finished that task, he scooped up his son, tickled his tummy, and carried him over his shoulder to the bathroom where he bathed the toddler, snapped him into his Olaf snowman footie pajamas, and brushed his teeth without the boy swallowing all the toothpaste. He tucked the sweet-smelling little fellow into his crib, kissed his tousled hair, and headed down the hall with promises that Mommy would be in to say good night.

Pausing in the living room doorway, he watched his wife and daughter a moment, scrutinizing the spelling list to insure completion of a short sentence for each word.

"Bones, the Tiger is ready for a story and your kisses," he announced. "Chrissy-bear, let's go get your bath, Honey."

Brennan answered Hank's plaintive calls, "Tory, tory, Momma." Taking Christine's small hand in his much bigger one, Booth led her to the warm cozy bathroom and closed the door behind them.

"Daddy, the tub is already full of water!"  
"Yup, I have a surprise for you. Since Hank didn't play outside at day care and get dirty today, we can use his water and add some extra to make your bath extra frothy-fizzy," her dad explained as he poured some Elsa blue liquid into the tub and turned the faucet to activate the bubbles. Christine giggled with delight, shed her clothes in record time, and climbed carefully into the foam. (No child of Temperance Brennan would ever hop mindlessly into a bathtub, having been warned about slips and falls.)

Once the little girl was "scrubbed and dubbed" as Pops used to say, Booth wrapped her in a towel, picked her up, and carried her to her room where he gently plopped her in the middle of her double bed where he'd already laid out her Anna pajamas.

"Get ready for bed, Monkey. I'll go fix your hot cocoa; just be quiet so Hank doesn't hear us."

Returning to the pale violet and ivory bedroom with her favorite Ariel mug, Booth stretched out on the bed and read a short chapter of the latest Boxcar Children volume they were sharing each night. He finished just as Brennan stuck her head in the door, gave him a puzzled look, and smiled at their daughter.

"Daddy's got everything under control, doesn't he, Chrissy?"

She traded places with her husband, snuggled with their daughter for a few minutes, then kissed the top of her head, straightened the blankets, and said good night, leaving the door open slightly. Walking quietly to the family room, she sat down next to Booth, eyed the glass of wine he had poured for her, and gave him a appraising look.

"Okay, Seeley Booth, what scheme or crazy idea do you have up your sleeve? You're acting like my dad used to!"

Booth took a deep breath, and handed her his phone. Brennan read Margaret's excited text and stared at her partner.

"You invited her for Christmas?"

Booth smiled sheepishly. "When Christine and I made her Christmas card, Chrissy asked who Margaret is and how come she'd never met her or come to visit. So I kinda made a spur of the moment decision and added an invitation to our holiday greeting to join us if she wanted to. With this being the first season Max is gone, I hoped it'd make you both feel better," he finished hopefully.

Brennan rolled her eyes at him and was silent for a few minutes. "Well at least she doesn't drink that odiferous catnip tea like Miss Warren does," she remarked with a smile. "I think it's a nice idea, Booth, even if Margaret is a little odd. Dad told me she no longer quotes Benjamin Franklin incessantly, either."

"Whew, I wasn't sure if you'd go along with my idea. Thanks, Bones."

"No, Booth. Thank _you _for always being so thoughtful."

B&B B&B B&B B&B

When December 22nd arrived, Booth and Christine drove to the airport to meet Margaret. The little girl hugged her third cousin around the knees and talked non-stop all the way home about her kindergarten class, their holiday pageant, the Christmas tree at their house, and how Hank kept rearranging the unbreakable ornaments around its bottom branches.

Margaret smiled at Booth over her head, and thanked him for inviting her.

"I'm booked at the Comfort Suites ten minutes from your house. I don't want to wear out my welcome with Tempe right off the bat."

"We'll see about that, and play it by ear," Booth told her.

"I thought we might have an overnight there if things go well," Margaret winked at him. Christine was absorbed in her Leapfrog LeapPad game and missed her remark entirely.

By the time they arrived at the Booth residence, Parker had arrived from spending several days with Rebecca's parents, and Brennan's homemade pizza luncheon was hot and waiting for the travelers. Booth embraced his son above his two younger children clamoring for the teenager's attention. Margaret hugged her cousin and expressed how sorry she was to have missed Max's funeral while in Canada.

"Russ's family is spending Christmas with Amy's parents in Georgia, so I'm glad you were able to come stay with us. Booth's idea to invite you was really a good idea, Margaret. I hope we can spend some one- on-one time and get to know each other better," Brennan told her. "You're welcome to stay here with us; we have a spare bedroom in Booth's man-cave since the double recliner turns into a queen bed."

"Actually, Tempe, I booked a double queen room at Comfort Suites ten minutes from here. I thought perhaps the two of us could have a sleep-over Christmas evening with Christine if you think she's old enough. I brought some photographs of our family I don't think you've ever seen."

"I like that idea. That's very thoughtful of you. We never had any contact with family when Russ and I were young. I'd love to see the pictures," Brennan said gratefully.

Margaret suppressed a smile. Her already-wrapped gift for her cousin was a duplicate set of the photos she thought would be most meaningful to Temperance; her aunts, uncle, cousins, and grandparents. Most were pictures of people still living, a few like Gramps and Grammy had passed away in the years between Ruth's demise and Max's more recent death. She had contracted with a photo-journalist friend to make them, insuring excellent reproduction and sharp details in the archival-quality prints.

The Booth family spent December 23rd and 24th showing Margaret all the sights of the nation's capital. Arlington Cemetery in the snow, the Jeffersonian, and the National Archives were her favorites along with the war memorials scattered around D.C. Booth was not surprised to find another keen mind in Brennan's family. Margaret was more focused on history than science, but her knowledge and memory for facts was every bit as extensive as Temperance possessed.

On Christmas Eve night, the family enjoyed an early dinner of Plaza Steak Soup, a Kansas City recipe that Angela had shared with Brennan. Hank stayed home with his mom while Booth took Christine and Margaret to Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's, the oldest Catholic parish in the City of Washington. It was the church he had visited with his partner after she and Hodgins were rescued from the buried car so many years earlier.

Its Leo Irerra crucifix included an unusual representation of the Resurrection, which fascinated Margaret as much as it had Brennan. She confided to Booth that she had boarded during college with one of their aunts who'd converted after marriage, so she was already familiar with the liturgical rituals and Christmas hymns. Christine was captivated by her rich contralto voice as she sang along with the traditional carols.

Once they were back home, the family went to bed and Margaret stayed in Booth's man-cave to facilitate the early-morning childish gift discovery quest that was sure to awaken them all by 6:30 a.m. Sure enough, Hank walked laboriously down the carpeted stairs to his dad's basement lair and climbed into bed with Margaret. She came awake to find a soft baby cheek cuddled up next to her face and wayward curls tickling her nose. Smiling to herself, she embraced the warm little body and drifted back to sleep for another twenty minutes until Pops' namesake woke up again, sat bolt upright, and shouted "Go see if Santa came!"

Their morning was spent ripping into packages, consuming vast quantities of hot chocolate, enjoying Booth's chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes, and exclaiming over the surprises revealed. Brennan's eyes filled with tears when she opened Margaret's gift, overcome with emotion at finally having pictures of her extended family. Booth received a sports almanac, Christine found a puzzle and two books in her gift box, and Hank's dinosaur was an instantaneous hit.

The Booth's gave Margaret a two-year subscription to _Jeffersonian Today_, a year's admission to the museum, and a soft pale blue alpaca infinity scarf. Once the paper and ribbon detritus was collected and recycled, the family went to the Royal Diner for lunch, where Hank insisted Margaret share his chocolate shake. Over Brennan's objection, Booth ordered him a small one as a special Christmas treat and the little boy was ecstatic.

After a walk on the National Mall to enjoy the mild sunny weather, Booth drove the group back to Rockville and Hank was put down for a nap he insisted he didn't need. Christine packed her new pajamas into an equally new Elsa backpack, then took a rest in her room with a new Magic Treehouse Jack and Annie adventure, which she happily read to herself.

At six thirty, the group went to Sid's for dinner, and Margaret was amazed by the man's instinct for what foods she would enjoy. Booth took his pouting son home for an evening of _Toy Story_ viewing and his mom's mac and cheese. Brennan, her cousin, and Christine checked into to the Comfort Suites, where the little girl tried out every pillow on the two cushy queen beds.

Her mother had brought along chocolate-dipped strawberries and Margaret ordered cheese pizza from the District Pie Shop. They watched Frozen I and II before Christine dozed off, leaving the cousins to talk and reminisce about Max. Margaret went through the family photographs she had brought, explaining how each person fit into the family, relating funny stories, and filling Brennan in on relationships and history she had missed out on in the past. After talking well past 1 a.m. both ladies fell asleep easily, cradled in the luxurious new mattresses just installed in their room.

At 9 a.m. next morning the trio hurried downstairs before the breakfast bar closed and indulged in whipped cream-covered strawberry pancakes, hot cocoa and steaming expresso coffee. Once they'd packed up and checked out, Brennan drove Margaret to the airport amid Christine's laments that their guest couldn't stay longer. Hugs were exchanged before boarding was announced, then Margaret flew back to Erie. Waiting for the plane to take off, she texted Booth, thanking him for making the memorable Christmas visit possible.

He answered back, "We'll have to get together again soon. Maybe I can bring Bones up to Pennsylvania to see where your branch of her family lives."

Margaret responded, "You are welcome any time. Have a Happy New Year with your wonderful family!"


End file.
